Skills and Apprenticeships Minister Anne Milton is currently attending WorldSkills 2017 in Abu Dhabi. The competition, which runs from 15 – 18 October, brings together apprentices and young people from across the world to compete in their specialist skill.

As part of her visit Minister Milton is delivering two speeches on skills development in cities and the government’s apprenticeship reforms. She is also meeting the UK’s competitors, their families and experts across a range of industries.

The 34 members of Team UK are competing against more than 65 countries in 30 skills categories, including painting, hairdressing, mechatronics, engineering and cooking.

Apprenticeships and Skills Minister Anne Milton said:

It’s a great pleasure to wish every member of Team UK the best of luck in competing at WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017. There is no higher honour than representing your country on the world stage. The pride team members feel in this achievement is equalled by my admiration for the incredible dedication and hard work demonstrated by each and every competitor.

In the heat of competition in Abu Dhabi, the challenges faced will be tough. This is the most prestigious and high-profile event of its kind in the world. I know that each individual member of the team will give their all to reach their potential. In doing so they are acting as national ambassadors for apprenticeships and technical skills and demonstrating how getting the right skills can change lives.

The young people in this team have exciting futures ahead of them. WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017 is their biggest test yet. Another opportunity to grow and develop. A chance to show what they can do. I know they will seize the moment and inspire the next generation to succeed through skills. Irrespective of what they achieve in Abu Dhabi they have the respect of everyone in the UK having got this far.

WorldSkills UK Chief Executive Neil Bentley, formerly Deputy Director General of the CBI, said:

This is a critical moment for the future of these inspirational young people – and our economy.

The WorldSkills Finals presents the UK with a unique platform to not only showcase the best of this country’s apprentices and inspire others to follow in their footsteps, but also to help build and reinforce global trade and investment partnerships.

Having the confidence to demonstrate the high skill level in the UK will enhance our status as a top investment destination, boosting trade relations and creating jobs in the post-Brexit economy.

The Prime Minister spoke to President Macron of France this afternoon.

On Iran, they both expressed their firm commitment to the nuclear deal, and discussed President Trump’s decision last week not to recertify it.

They agreed to continue to work closely together to ensure the deal is properly enforced, and to push back on Iran’s destabilising activity in the region, including its ballistic missile programme.

They said they would discuss next steps in the margins of the European Council in Brussels later this week.

On Brexit, they discussed progress in the negotiations and looked ahead to this week’s Council.

They also spoke about the strong UK-France relationship, and agreed to continue building on our bilateral partnership in a range of areas.

Scientists from the University of Leicester and the Mullard Space Science Laboratory at University College London, have been working on the research, thanks to funding from the UK Space Agency.

The outburst took place in a nearby galaxy called NGC 4993, located about 130 million light-years away in the direction of constellation Hydra.

Today, dozens of UK scientists and their international collaborators representing 70 observatories worldwide announced the detection of this event and the significant “scientific firsts” it has revealed about our Universe.

The ripples in space finally reached Earth at 1.41pm UK time, on Thursday 17 August 2017, and were recorded by the twin detectors of the US-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) and its European counterpart Virgo.

Just 1.7 seconds after the gravitational waves rushed past Earth, NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope caught high-energy light from an explosion associated with the event. Swift, Hubble and Chandra missions, along with ground-based observatories including the Blanco telescope in Chile used by DES, later captured the fading glow of the blast’s expanding debris.

Once pin-pointed, the Swift satellite quickly maneuvered to look at the object with its X-ray and Ultraviolet and Optical telescopes. Swift is a NASA/UK/Italian mission launched in 2004 to study gamma-ray bursts (GRB). The UK involvement in the mission is as Co-Investigators for the X-ray Telescope through the University of Leicester and the Ultraviolet and Optical Telescope through MSSL.

Prof Julian Osborne said:

The discovery of early blue emission by Swift from this neutron star collision discovered by its gravitational radiation is a landmark result, a first scientific result from the widely anticipated joint signal conveyed by both light and by gravitational waves.

The results combine to tell us about the neutron stars, their destruction and its aftermath in which some of the heaviest elements (like gold and platinum) are created. This work was made possible by the UK contributions to the NASA Swift satellite project, including the building its X-ray camera and its ultra-violet/optical telescope, as well as the development of new observing strategies to enable the rapid search of the large sky regions to which the gravitational wave signal has been constrained.

Dr Paul Kuin, from UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory, who works on Swift, said:

As the collision occurred relatively close to Earth, scientists were able to point telescopes in the direction of the event and get a clear picture of the light. We successfully tracked the UV light using the Ultraviolet and Optical Telescope on-board NASA’s Swift satellite which is a UCL built, operated and maintained instrument that has been active since its launch in 2004.

Neutron stars are the dead remnants of massive stars, they contain the mass of our Sun in an object the size of a city. When they collide, some of the neutrons are ripped off and start to interact with each other, forming some of the heaviest elements in the universe. Radioactive decay of these elements then produces light in what is often called a ‘kilonova’.

The Swift data gave unprecedented insight into how new elements are formed after a neutron star merger.

Phishing is when fraudsters attempt to hoax users and get hold of sensitive information such as:

• usernames
• passwords
• credit card details

They do this through electronic communication like email, pop-up message, phone call or text message.

Action Fraud get around 8,000 reports of phishing each month, which shows the scale of these scams.

Charities, like any other organisation, can be at risk and we are urging trustees to be vigilant.

It’s important to consider how to protect your charity from harm online. You can read detailed advice from government on improving cyber security. You can also find out how to become accredited under the Cyber Essentials Scheme.

If you think your charity has been affected by a phishing scam, whether it was prevented or not, report it to Action Fraud through their website or call them on 0300 123 2040.

If your charity has fallen victim to a phishing scam and lost sensitive data or valuable funds, you need to report it to us as a serious incident.

• make sure charity software has up-to-date virus protection (though it will not always prevent you from becoming infected)
• don’t click on links or open any attachments you receive in unsolicited emails or SMS messages. Fraudsters can ‘spoof’ an email address to make it look like it’s from a trusted source. If you’re unsure, check the email header to identify the true source of communication. Information on how to find email headers is available on the MX Toolbox website
• always install software updates as soon as they become available, they will often include fixes for critical security vulnerabilities
• if your current software does not offer an ‘anti-spyware’ function, consider installing software which does, it can detect key loggers
• make regular backups of your important files to an external hard drive, memory stick or online storage provider. But, it’s important that the device you back up to is not left connected to your computer, as a malware infection could spread to that too
• if you suspect your bank details have been accessed, you should contact your bank immediately

The Charity Commission (independent regulator of charities in England and Wales) has issued this alert to charities as regulatory advice under section 15(2) of the Charities Act 2011.

The Prime Minister spoke to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar this afternoon.

On Storm Ophelia, the Prime Minister expressed her sympathies for the loss of life and said the UK Government stood ready to provide any support if requested.

They discussed the political situation in Northern Ireland and their shared concern over the lack of devolved Government in Northern Ireland for over 9 months.

Both leaders noted that while progress has been made over the past few weeks significant gaps still remained, including on Irish language, and it was up to the two main parties to overcome differences and reach agreement.

The Prime Minister said she was absolutely clear that it was in the interests of everyone in Northern Ireland to see a fully functioning Executive up and running so that local decisions could be made by local politicians.

On the UK’s departure from the EU, they discussed the importance of maintaining constructive progress in the negotiations. Both agreed to continue discussions at EU Council later this week and the Prime Minister reiterated the UK Government’s commitment to protecting the Belfast Agreement and the Common Travel Area.